There is a widespread, but not universal, belief in the software community that software organizations and projects can systematically improve their ability to meet commitments and build high-quality products using principles of software quality management. Quality affects cost and schedule, therefore the engineering practices that affect quality are also a management concern. Understanding the factors that influence software quality is crucial to the continuing maturation of the software industry; an improved understanding of software quality drivers will help software engineers and managers make more informed decisions in controlling and improving the software process.
My research is motivated by a desire to understand the effect of disciplined processes and effective teams on improving performance and lessening variability with respect to software quality. Classroom data provides insight into interpersonal differences between competent professionals as increasingly disciplined processes are adopted. Project data using similar processes enables an exploration of the impact of effective teams on software quality.
My results show that:
* Program size, programmer ability, and disciplined processes significantly affect software quality.
* Factors frequently used as surrogates for programmer ability, e.g., years of experience, and technology, e.g., programming language, do not significantly impact software quality.
* Recommended practices are not necessarily followed even when processes are consistently performed, e.g., peer reviews may be consistently performed, but the review rates may exceed recommended practice for effective reviews.
* When moving from ad hoc processes to disciplined processes, top-quartile performers improve more than 2X; bottom-quartile performers improve more than 4X.
* Rigorous statistical techniques that allow for individual differences confirm the importance of process discipline and following recommended practice for improving software quality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-07082004-155917 |
| Date | 14 October 2005 |
| Creators | Paulk, Mark Christopher |
| Contributors | Kim LaScola Needy, Jayant Rajgopal, Mainak Mazumdar, Chris Kemerer, Marc Kellner |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07082004-155917/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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